Cerro Porteno maintained their lead at the top of the Apertura despite slumping to a 2-0 defeat to Paraguayan rivals Olimpia.

Carlos Ruiz opened the scoring in the 27th minute to record his fourth goal in the tournament before Cerro defender Julio Cesar Irrazabal was sent off six minutes later. Gregorio Perez's side added a second seven minutes after the break when Osmar Molinas scored after collecting a pass from Rodrigo Rojas.

Cerro lead the Apertura standings with 23 points, two above Libertad, while the victory means Olimpia closed the gap on the league leaders to five points. "Everybody thought we were out of the fight for the title, but there is a long way left," Olimpia's Uruguayan defender Diego Ciz said.

"It was a great game. We played like we know we can - calmly and with the ball on the ground. We scored the first goal and had no problems controlling the game from there."